George's mom needs some help

George is driving me nuts. He's always driven me nuts because he's a brat and I have myself to blame . I spoiled him because I raised him since he was one day old. I didn't know there was a name for it until I came here, but he "herds" me. And now that I have a name to attach to it, that's exactly what it is. Biting me to get what he wants and when he wants or just because he's mad about who knows what. Wendy had an excellent column on the home page so I will try those tips. He has told the other cats in his way to STAY OUT OF MOM AND DAD'S ROOM - MY ROOM. He gets yelled at and I try to carry the others back in to the room to show them they are welcome to stay but usually, his intimidation is not worth their effort. Just this week, I noticed he has started picking on Mama - outside of his room. He glares at her and stalks her anytime she is within his sight. I have no idea what started this or why. Tonight she was just walking into the family room and he chased her up on the couch and she hid behind pillows eventhough he was far away and on the floor. He just sat there and waited. Waited for her to jump off. When I try to distract he just gets mad at me because he's on a mission to hunt her down. He's not mad because he's not thumping his tail. It's almost like a game to him. When he's sufficiently scared her, he just walks away knowing when he's sufficiently scared her all smug and proud of himself.

Sorry for the marathon post. George is my baby. I just don't know how to deal with this behaviour properly. Wendy's article helped with tips on cat herding of people, but not cats to cats. I tried doing a search and couldn't find much under keyword "herding" Any advice would be appreciated.

It sounds like a dominance thing to me and that George is becoming a bit of a bully. I wonder if it would help when he behaves like that you pick him up and put him by himself in a room for a time out. Don't yell at him, don't pay him any attention, don't give him any type of recognition other than when he bullies or gets aggressive with the other cats he gets time out by himself. I don't know if it will work or not, but somehow he needs to get the information that stalking and bullying the other cats will not get him what he wants. When he behaves and is good, then reward him with lots of attention and cuddling. He wants to be the dominant cat but he is using aggression to do so and that is not helping in your multi cat household. He can be the dominant cat without being a bully and that is what you want to try and accomplish.

Good luck.

Kathryn

Sounds like he is feeling a bit overcrowded by to many cats in his domain. Do you have other places where the cats can get up and off the floor, on several different levels? He more than likely will always take the high spot-

I would recommend Wendy Christensen's new book Outwitting Cats it is a great book for mulit-cat owners and a fast read. She covers this subject extensively in this book-

Thank you Kathryn and MA. I will check into Wendy's book so that you for the name. He is being a bully. The situation is worse today because after I posted last night, he cornered her in the dining room and she was screaming. I walked in and they both were all poofed out. Then this morning, he went looking for her and found her, chased her up on the kitchen chair where he feels she needs to stay for the rest of her life. It's not like we don't have enough room- I live in a story with a basement. I even have a three level kitty condo now. George has definite opinions on where all the other cats belong and don't belong.